Relative Water Age in Premise Plumbing Systems Using an Agent-Based Modeling Framework
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 149, Issue 4
Abstract
Tools used to predict hydraulics and water quality within premise plumbing systems have gained recent interest. An open-source Python-based tool—PPMtools—for modeling and analyzing premise plumbing systems with WNTR or EPANET is presented. A relative water age—the time water has spent in a home—study using three real-world single-family homes was used to demonstrate PPMtools. Results showed that increased use—more people or higher flow fixtures—led to a general decrease in relative water ages. However, even with more use, one user could still experience water for a drinking activity with a relative water age equal to, or longer than, the duration of the longest stagnant period (sleeping or absence from home). Simulations also showed that the general relative water ages increased if the homes were plumbed with larger diameter piping [19.1 mm () versus 12.7 mm ()]. Hot water heaters were found to have the largest impact on relative water age. Smaller volume uses generally had more variability in relative water ages, while larger volume uses (e.g., showering) resulted in generally low relative water ages with less variability because larger uses fully replaced water in the home with water from the main. This study highlights the potential for using PPMtools to explore more complex water quality modeling within premise plumbing systems.
Practical Applications
The time water spends (its relative age) in a premise plumbing system (home or building) provides a simple metric for estimating water quality. PPMtools was developed as a framework for simulating premise plumbing systems and was demonstrated using a water age study. PPMtools provides a tool for using EPANET to model these systems and handles fixture, activity, and agent (person or device) level information for model generation and analyzing results. This work demonstrates preliminary findings for three single-family homes with their EPANET input files and discusses their general implications. PPMtools can be used to study other premise plumbing water topics with additional work, where this work demonstrates the foundational work on PPMtools’ development. These results highlight some general trends associated with occupancy level, plumbing sizing, and the impact of low-flow fixtures, and they are discussed in terms of their impact on relative water ages. Results highlight that simplified metrics may fail to capture the full complexity of estimating water age or interuse stagnation periods.
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Data Availability Statement
Some data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available in a repository or online in accordance with funder data retention policies. Data: https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/epa-sciencehub; model, tool, and input files: https://github.com/USEPA/PPMtools. Some data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, including specific analysis scripts.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge Gary Klein, Tim Bartrand, and Jim Lutz for discussions about PPSs and associated terminology.
Disclaimer
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through its Office of Research and Development funded the research described in this study. It has been subjected to the Agency’s review and has been approved for publication. Note that approval does not signify that the contents necessarily reflect the views of the Agency. Any mention of trade names, products, or services does not imply an endorsement by the US Government or EPA. The EPA does not endorse any commercial products, services, or enterprises. The contractors’ role did not include establishing Agency policy.
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Information & Authors
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© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 13, 2022
Accepted: Nov 18, 2022
Published online: Feb 8, 2023
Published in print: Apr 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Jul 8, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Analysis (by type)
- Architectural engineering
- Building systems
- Business management
- Computer models
- Decision making
- Decision support systems
- Drinking water
- Engineering fundamentals
- Environmental engineering
- Hydraulic models
- Infrastructure
- Models (by type)
- Pipeline systems
- Pipes
- Plumbing
- Practice and Profession
- System analysis
- Water (by type)
- Water and water resources
- Water management
- Water quality
- Water treatment
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- Premise Plumbing Modeling Applications and Limitations, Premise Plumbing Modeling, 10.1061/9780784485101.ch7, (103-131), (2023).